When winter looms, we start to pay more attention to the thermometer. The Fahrenheit thermometers in the U.S. are altogether confusing for folks in most of the rest of the world. Why does water freeze at 32°F instead of the more sensible 0°C? We usually just shrug and say it's always been that way, but that's not true. There's a real history behind the scale, even if don't know all of it. Veritasium brings us the story of Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, who made wildly popular thermometers in the 18th century, with animation by Marcello Ascani. (via Laughing Squid)

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. This toddler is learning to be just like the adults she sees around her. When a new parent sees things like this, it really drives home the importance of setting an example. Well, to be honest, that revelation comes after your initial reaction, which is to grab another phone and record the fun for viral posterity. (via reddit)

Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are microscopic animals that are pretty much indestructible. They can survive almost any hardship condition, including dehydration. When they lack water, they go dormant, for years if necessary, then rehydrate and begin their lives again. There are at least a thousand species of tardigrades, which make up their own phylum and aren't closely related to anything outside it. This video shows a tardigrade living in a wet slide mount that acts like a tiny aquarium.

You can have one (or more) of your very own, because they exist pretty much everywhere. The Stanford Tardigrade Project has detailed instructions for finding tardigrades and making microscope slides. They use a Foldscope, but if you have any kind of microscope, you should be able to see your tardigrade pet. (via Metafilter)

Monday, November 28, 2016

Stuntman Damien Walters acts out a variety of famous movie stunts while running on a giant treadmill. You might recognize the movies these are from. I saw Steamboat Bill, Jr., Raiders of the Lost Ark, and North by Northwest. Can you name the others for me? (via Tastefully Offensive)

I've written several articles about invasive species and the problems that come when humans try to "improve" nature in one way or another. The unintended consequences of human intervention can wreck the delicate balance of nature. Here are five stories in a classic mental_floss article I wrote in 2008. One explains how spraying mosquitoes with DDT led to dropping cats out of planes.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Obergurgl-Hochgurgl is a skiing area in the Austrian Alps. GoPro footage of ski runs are fun, but after you've seen a few, they start to lose their charm. But what if the producers added some extras, like a few dangerous obstacles? The trip downhill gets weirder and weirder as it goeson. If this was what a real ski run looked like, the resort at Obergurgl-Hochgurgl would have to repel visitors with riot sticks. (via Digg)

Studio C presents a warning against succumbing to any of the seven deadly sins (pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, greed, lust, and sloth). Each are illustrated in this sumptuous video. They obviously have their favorite of the seven. Can you guess which one it is? (via Viral Viral Videos)

Robot Chicken had so many claymation action figure parodies, it's hard to recall all of them. Adult Swim makes it easier, with occasional compilation videos. Here are some clips from their most popular Superman sketches. In this video, Superman discovers a new superpower, gets a newspaper headline, and find out the truth about his parents. (via Geeks Are Sexy)

When a curious cat gets his head stuck in something, his first instinct is to walk backward away from it. That doesn't help a bit, as the thing just goes with the cat. Lucky for these cats, there's someone right there with a camera to help out -after they get a bit of footage first. What's even funnier is when a cat finally gets unstuck and the first thing they do is go right back to that object again to satisfy their curiosity! (via Tastefully Offensive)

What fandom do you like to sleep under? There's a deep overlap of gamers, science fiction fans, comic book aficionados, and quilters. They are all creative people! Quilters don't even have to be fans of geeky entertainment, because they will go the extra mile to lovingly design and create a handmade gift for someone who is. Here are some of the awesome quilts that people have made to illustrate various fandoms, in a list I compiled for mental_floss.

How was your Thanksgiving? Any disasters? Michael Hickox has a LEGO tale for us about a family Thanksgiving dinner that was ruined when someone miscalculated and burned the turkey. To a crisp. But it has a happy ending anyway, because there's more to the holiday than just a bird. (via Laughing Squid)

In a very 21st-century story, a Roomba was working all alone in a home wired with security cameras. A stray plastic bag somehow became draped over the Roomba's sensors. It ran into a wall, but that action neither freed it of the obstruction nor put it out of his misery. One commenter filled in the story:

While being trapped in the bag, it gained sentience and grasped the purpose of its existence. Thus it threw itself to oblivion.

But look! The Roomba wasn't alone after all. Could it have been a case of murder? After all, who is most likely to leave a plastic bag on the floor -a cat, of course! Let's hope the authorities crack the case and bring the perpetrator to justice. (via Laughing Squid)

Friday, November 25, 2016

A year ago, the folks at Bad Lip Reading did a musical version of The Empire Strikes Back. It featured about twenty seconds of Yoda singing a nonsense song. Now they've expanded that short sequence into a full-length song, and its just as silly. Or even more. The chorus is rather catchy, though. This could be an earworm. I hope not! (via Tastefully Offensive)

That's the way this news report is being described all over. It's got everything: crime, drunk driving, a chase scene, and a local hero running around without clothing looking out for his mates, plus Today host Karl Stefanovic to give his reaction. All delivered with that unmistakable accent. But where's the swearing? Daniel McConnell, who chased the Brisbane hit-and-run driver in the above video, most likely had some colorful language of his own that night. (via reddit)

When it was first introduced to the public, saccharin seemed to be a miracle. The substance is about 300 times as sweet as sugar, and it doesn't have any calories. What’s not to love about that? But the story of saccharin is not all sweet. Read how it came about in an article I wrote for mental_floss.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Films produced this 1946 educational film to warn us about the signs that your community is sliding into despotism.

The two chief characteristics of despotism -- restricted respect and concentrated power -- are defined and illustrated. Two of the conditions which have historically promoted the growth of despotism are explained and exemplified. These are a slanted economic distribution and a strict control of the agencies of communication.

Alex Mills is a 9-year-old gymnast in Melbourne, Australia, who's been training for three years now. Her Dad Ash decided he wanted to try it, too. Watch him try out the stunts she practices. You think you know what this video will show you, but stick with it and be surprised. It helps that Ash, a 41-year-old professional window washer, is a pretty athletic fellow to start with. Since Alex practices 30 hours a week, this is a way for them to have some fun together. You can see more of Ash and Alex at Instagram. (via Metafilter)

Families and friend gather together on Thanksgiving Day to eat and give thanks for the blessings we have. It's a truly American holiday. But as much as we appreciate the Pilgrims' contribution to our holiday
calendar, they are far from the first to set aside a holiday to give
thanks for a bountiful harvest. Here are some other thanks-giving
holidays from around the world, in a classic mental_floss article I wrote back in 2008.

If you think Thanksgiving dinner with your dysfunctional family is grim, here's a reminder of how much worse it could be. Like in the movies. Jacob T. Swinney of Fandor Keyframe collected some examples from Hollywood to show that gathering the relatives together for a holiday meal isn't always pretty. You might be better off working or serving at the local soup kitchen. Or maybe you could just let those resentments go and enjoy the feast. (via Laughing Squid)

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

OK Go is a band known for their imaginative music videos. It's like, "The song is OK, but go watch the video." Their latest is called "The One Moment." The band explains what's going on in the video:

The first three quarters of the video, from the beginning of the song until I pick up the umbrella at the a cappella breakdown, unfold over 4.2 seconds of real time. Then I lip sync in real time for about 16 seconds (we thought it was important to have a moment of human contact at this point in the song, so we returned to the realm of human experience) and we return to slow motion for the final chorus paint scene, which took a little longer than 3 seconds in real time.

There are 318 things happening here, at different rates that synch up with the tune. Even if you're not impressed by the concept, you'll love all the splashing, explosions, and breakage. Read more about how it was done at the band's website. (via Digg)

Screen Junkies gets a jump on Christmas by going back more than 50 years to bring us an Honest Trailer for the 1964 Rankin-Bass TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. We've all seen it so many times that we may find it hard to put ourselves in the place of the audience who saw it for the first time all those years ago. What was whimsical then is downright alarming now. The TV show was based on the 1949 Johnny Marks song, which was based on a 1939 Montgomery Ward advertising campaign. In order to stretch the two-minute song into an hour story, they had to add a lot of strange characters and a coming-of-age plot line. That's the focus of this Honest Trailer. (via Uproxx)

My mother flew back from Florida yesterday, and then drove a couple of hours from the airport. She confirmed that everyone and their brother was traveling. Well, everyone except for my kids, who will both be spending their first Thanksgiving away from home. (via Boing Boing)

Some people bemoan the "selfie generation," but taking selfies is just a manifestation of a trend that's been going on for decades (although one could argue it started centuries ago). The glorification of the individual over the community has just become more evident with the rise of the internet. Being liked, or at least known, is more desirable than being good.

Okay, we know the problem, but what can we do about it? The audio of this video is an excerpt from a talk that New York Times columnist David Brooks gave at the RSA (The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) in London last year. The visuals were added by animator Rodolphe Jouxtel. -via Digg

I don't recall whether I had a rubber duck to play with in the bath when I was little, but I certainly took one to college with me -and found that college dorms do not have bathtubs. No matter, I kept that rubber duck and still have it today. But how far back do those cute rubber ducks go? Further than you may think. Simon Whistler of Today I Found Out gives us the complete history of rubber duck bath toys, from the development of vulcanized rubber to the Sesame Street song "Rubber Duckie" and beyond.

What will Mr. Night do on his day off? Wander through the daylight and create mischief, of course! It's not really mischief to him, because this is what he does when he's on duty -at night. Lithuanian filmmaker Ignas Meilunas combined animation with real-life settings to make this silly story. It will make you smile. (via Metafilter)

These guys traveled all the way to Switzerland to throw basketballs. But it paid off when they landed a basket from 493 feet above and set a new world record. Australian trick shot artists Brett Stanford, Derek Herron, and Scott Gaunson, together known as How Ridiculous, took turns tossing a ball from the top of Mauvoisin Dam in Valais, Switzerland in September. Herron had the third shot, and it went in the basket at the bottom of the dam! How Ridiculous had actually held the world record twice before for the highest basketball shot, but were outdone by Side Perfect last year. Now that they've reclaimed the title, it will be hard for anyone else to find a place to even attempt to break it. Read more about the stunt at the Guinness World Records site. (via The Daily Dot)

Ale Damiani made the short film M.A.M.O.N. (Monitor Against Mexicans Over Nationwide) about Trump's plans to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and deport undocumented aliens. Besides that, there's some awesome effects in this. It's got a giant robot, an implied catapult, a heart transplant, and a heroic chicken. And more. It's a political science fiction comedy, I guess. (via Digg)

Monday, November 21, 2016

Kevin Kohler, the Backyard Scientist, makes fire tornadoes with no fan or machinery. This is not only pretty cool, but pretty, too! Once you see how it's done, then it all makes sense. And with different kinds of fuel, you can make flames of different colors. He even makes one tornado with two different colors! (via Tastefully Offensive)

Disney has a live-action version of Beauty and the Beast coming to theaters. Marvel already has its own beast, and a few beauties, too. So Darth Blender made the obvious mashup, lining up video clips of the Hulk, Black Widow, and other Marvel characters into the audio for the Beauty and the Beast trailer. It works well. (via Geeks Are Sexy)